


Here Among The Clouds

by stitchy



Series: Skywalker Swap [2]
Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Luke and Leia Switched, Canon-Typical Violence, Empire Strikes Back, Lando POV, M/M, Minor Leia Organa/Han Solo, Prince Luke Organa, Romance, leia skywalker - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-28
Updated: 2018-01-28
Packaged: 2019-03-10 18:12:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13507038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stitchy/pseuds/stitchy
Summary: In a universe where Leia Skywalker joins the Rebel Alliance of her long lost brother Prince Luke Organa, the Millenium Falcon and her crew arrive to Cloud City with a fully functioning hyperdrive. In the weeks following the Battle of Hoth,  Lando Calrissian becomes entangled in their their quest to defeat the evil Empire.





	Here Among The Clouds

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is a spiritual sequel to an 80 page comic I wrote last year, retelling A New Hope with Tatooinian Leia and her master Ahsoka Tano. I'm very proud of it, so *I* think it's worth a read, but if you'd rather just get on with this fic I'll highlight a few key details below.
> 
> -
> 
> -
> 
> Ahsoka is upfront with Leia about Luke being her brother before the Death Star rescue. She discovers that Vader is their father just before the Battle of Yavin, and prevents either Luke or Vader from killing the other during Luke's trench run. Each twin now carries one of Ahsoka's white bladed sabers.

There are all sorts of adornments decorating the office of the Baron Administrator of Cloud City, Bespin- all of which are carefully appointed to suit the architectural marvel. A musical orb turns in lazy circles next to Lando Calrissian’s desk, emitting its tune, while a golden bas-relief subtly shifts in response. Sumptuous couches invite visitors to relax. Spindly instruments glitter next to a commsuite, bathed by lights disguised as canopy windows. Without a doubt, they are the nicest digs Lando has ever had. The only detail that fails please the eye is a tarnished security remote that rests on the desk. It’s sort of stupid, he thinks. It probably isn’t even operational. He hasn’t owned the ship it belongs to in over a decade, but he felt compelled to keep it in sight ever since fishing it out of storage some months ago. Something about seeing the _Falcon_ again in the holonet coverage of that battle... it felt like a chronometer had been set and was counting down. Lando just wasn’t sure to what.

And then, a tiny proximity light blinks green.

-

“Ask him if he has a landing permit,” Lando smirks to his comm.

The other end crackles as the technician relays. “Uhm, sir- he doesn’t have a permit.”

“No, no, I wouldn’t think so. Set ‘em up on platform 327, please.” Lando swipes two buttons, switching to another line. “Can I get a diplomatic guard outside my office in ten? I’d like to put on a good show.”

An affirmative chirp replies as he taps a panel in the wall. The moving art behind his desk fractals away revealing a tidy collection of capes and cloaks and a rack of wine from every end of the galaxy. He selects blue, on both accounts.

In step with the Cloud City guard (a complement of eight humanoids, two droids, and an ugnaught), Lando Calrissian swirls his way to the platform. The clouds seem to part as he arrives and the light that shines through paints the edges of the _Millenium Falcon_ in sunset.

With a serious expression set on his face, he points to the most familiar of the six figures standing in the ship’s shadow. “Guards, seize that man.”

Han wavers a little, but the others don’t step away- instead they square off, hands ready at holsters. Lando might expect it from old Chewie, but the unflinching defense from his new companions throws him for a loop. Han Solo would never pay for protection, he was too self-loathing. These were... friends.

“Ah, c’mere you old pirate,” Lando calls out, waving everyone off. “Would you look at that? You’re almost as tall as the wookiee, now!”

Chewbacca growls a laugh as Han throws his arms around Lando, then takes his turn.

“Yeah, well- once we stopped relying on your skills in the galley I shot right up.”

Lando mocks offense. “I guess you didn’t stop in for dinner then. That’s all right, we can work out you giving me back the _Falcon_ over drinks.”

“Nice try,” Han grumbles.

Lando eyes the two well-kept droids milling behind the group and the crisp, stylish garb of the closer of Han’s two new friends. “What brings you and your remarkable companions to my door?” he asks, offering a hand in greeting.

Han glances at each, checking. The petite woman at his side casually covers a firebird patch on her sleeve by crossing her arms. “Refueling,” he offers, apparently unsure if he’s at liberty to out them as anti-Imperials.

“I’ll have my people take care of it,” Lando chuckles. He takes the hand of the well-dressed young man. “Welcome. I'm Lando Calrissian. I'm the administrator of this _independant_ facility. And who might you be?” He doesn’t need to ask, really. For one reason or another the holonet has been plastered with the heir of Alderaan’s face and name since before there was no longer an Alderaan to be an heir of.

“Luke Organa,” he says, smiling curiously. “Of the Alliance.”  
  
“You’re very welcome here, Luke.” Lando bows before letting go of the prince’s mannered hand.

Relieved, the woman steps up while still pulling off a glove and gives him a sturdy handshake. “I’m Leia Skywalker.”

“Any friends of Han Solo’s are... people I have follow up questions for,” he laughs. “Follow me.”

-

He gives them the five credit tour of the city, keeping in mind what hemisphere of the planet below is likely to give the most appealing view. Environeers bustle past in their uniforms as Lando explains the various enterprises here on Bespin. Most applications of tibbana gas are industrial, but the recent discovery of the ultra-pure vien LK27 has changed the game for Cloud City. The Banking Clan was investing in the medical value of their operation now, seeking new therapies for a number of spacer ailments. With even more potential for profit is the up and coming market in cryostasis- especially with the political climate the way it is. It’s not actually legal to do with carbonite, but the science has come a long way since the ban.

Leia arches a brow as they stand on a gantry overlooking a freezing chamber. “There are seriously people willing to do that? Just take a vacation from reality and wait the Empire out?” The disgust in her voice warns Lando from pointing out they’re doing a version of that here while the Rebellion is scrambled.

“The survival odds for hibernation are better with the modern process,” he shrugs.

Thrusting his golden head into the conversation, Threepio gets more specific. “Millenia ago, before hyperdrives, half of all properly administered hibernations resulted in complications, while one in two hundred and thirty two resulted in fatality for durations under three standard years. The rate doubled for-”

“What would it cost me to put the professor here on a carbonite retreat?” Han butts in, muffling the droid with a hand.

“Threepio, perhaps you’d like to engage with the city computer on this new data,” Luke says diplomatically.

Both droid and Han delight at the prospect, and Lando prompts them to continue on with their tour out of the chamber and back towards the East plaza. At any hour, people like to socialize by the holofountain there, and the youngest residents of Cloud City will be playing some newly devised game. Several small shops burst with their finely made wares, and a melody or two can always be heard drifting out of someone's apartment. This is his favorite quarter of the city, where he has his own office and apartments, with several rooms at the ready for guests. Something Chewbacca snorts gives him the notion it’s not presumptuous to set up Han and Leia in the largest suite, so he does, making a note to investigate how the hell _that_ happened later. Chewie happily takes the smallest room, and finally, Lando welcomes his most distinguished guest to a suite that happens to adjoin his own with a private sitting room.

“It’s impressive that you’ve managed to keep an operation like this out of Imperial notice,” Luke notes as they leave the public space.

“Impressive, for a barely legal operation, you mean?”  
  
“For any leader just trying to get by,” Luke clarifies. “Your people seem happy. Safe.”

“Oh. Well, thank you.” Lando wonders at the unexpectedly earnest compliment. His own Fake It Til You Make It approach to being legitimate feels shabby next to the real thing. He clears his throat and sweeps his arm to the sitting room and chamber beyond, suddenly aware how quaint they must seem to a born prince. “I hope these accommodations will be comfortable. It’s no palace,” Lando grins.

Luke crosses the room, noting the plush furniture. “It’s no bunker, either.”

“Anything you need, your wish is my command.”

“I’ve had enough of ordering people around for now, actually.” Luke turns away to look out the windows, his perfect posture framed like a portrait. Outside gases swirl and dissipate in a pulse, punctured here and there by starlight.

“No commands,” he agrees. He can roll with that. No one knows how to unwind like Lando. “A suggestion then, Luke. Would you like to have a drink with me? I pulled down some Mandalorian earlier that’s supposed to taste different for everyone, so I clearly can’t drink it alone.”

With an artful tilt of his head, Luke agrees and Lando slips back and forth to his office to retrieve two bottles and two glasses. By the time he returns Luke has unraveled from his shawl and folded himself into the couch. One of his hands rests absently on a highly polished cylinder clipped to his belt that had been concealed until now.

“That’s a...” Lando double-takes. As if being an ace rebel pilot prince isn’t enough. “Are you a Jedi?”

“I’m considering it. My sister and I are supposed to train.” Luke takes the glass Lando offers and inhales the aroma. “Sweet? And a bit woody.”

“Leia?” Lando thumbs in the direction of her and Han’s apartment. “Huh. I’ve never met one Jedi before, nevermind two.”

“Twins, even.”

While Lando enjoys his bright, pleasantly tart wine, Luke delicately explains how while he was aware of being an adopted Clone War orphan, he had no idea he had a sister tucked away until she came out of hiding to rescue him from execution. It’s also how Han, Chewie and the _Falcon_ factored in, entwining themselves with Luke’s rebellion and assisting in the destruction of the Death Star itself. The drink and story are adventurous pairing that rivals Corellian brandy and Felucian chiz, in his book, and it’s fascinating to compare the wild rumors he’s heard to a personal account- even if there’s some painful, dark detail in the middle of the story that Luke is adamant to avoid. Lando’s curious what he’s omitting, of course, but the blush of his cheeks is so pleasant to look at that he doesn’t press it. Maybe that’s a second bottle of wine sort of topic, anyway.

“So, your sister and Han?”

“Oh yeah,” Luke says. “They’re sort of intense, but it works.”

“Good,” Lando nods, perhaps a shade too zealously. “I’m happy for them.”

No Force required, Luke picks up on it with old-fashioned intuition. “You and Han?”

“Long, long ago. No hard feelings.”

“Except that he stole your ship,” Luke winks.

With a laugh, Lando lifts his glass. “Finally! Someone on my side. Han ever let you fly the _Falcon_?” Anyone who gets to fly the old girl is the real object of Lando’s envy. It’s hard not to fantasize about the kind of flight a Force user might wring out of her.

“I wouldn’t say he ‘let’ me... But he’s been indisposed once or twice,” Luke discloses, a gleam in his eye.

“And I’ll bet he had plenty of back-cockpit commentary.”

Luke grins into his drink. “I live for the day he’s forced to fly an X-wing, so I can return the favor.”

Lando raises a hand, fingers crossed. “Get him in the uniform if you can, he’d hate it.”  
  
“Everyone does. I keep telling the top brass that color is bad for recruitment,” says Luke. Dressed in head to toe whites and creams, it’s hard for Lando to picture him in a standard rebel pilot’s interstellar orange. “Stormtroopers have one up on us, there.”

The thought of being eternally mandated to wear only black and white makes Lando shudder. “Oh please. Their taste can’t be trusted. What kind of monster wants to wear a mask for the rest of their life?”

Lando uncorks the second bottle and busies himself with pouring another round. When he looks back up at Luke, that dark look from before fills his gaze. He even looks smaller, somehow.

“Lord Vader,” he says quietly.

“Exactly. Although- say what you will of the mask and the murder, I’ll give him credit for the cape.” Lando smoothes his own as he settles back into the couch.

“Do you suppose the mask makes it easier? During.” Luke nearly whispers. “After.”

The shift in mood gives Lando a bit of whiplash. “I’m not following.”

“They estimated half a million people were on the Death Star. They weren’t all soldiers.” Luke looks at him, searching.

Lando’s stomach drops. In his experience the line between right and wrong is often drawn arbitrarily, and he’s comfortable crisscrossing it as necessary. This is not one of those times. There were objectively cruel and evil people on the Death Star. Maybe the majority of the people were middlemen who didn't know they were sitting on a superweapon, sure- but the handful of them versus entire worlds? Other Alderaans and Jedhas? There’s no odds there, and Lando _knows_ odds.

“I doubt the Empire would have been any more merciful to those on the station who did object to Alderaan. It’s tough- I know, I know,” Lando says, looking Luke in the eye. He consciously turns on the old Calrissian Credibility and hopes the same trick that convinces people of his fibs can convince Luke of the truth. “If it wasn’t hard for you to cope with, then I’d be worried. You were in a position to do what needed to be done,” he says gently. “Sorta sounds like what your people are always saying. The Force was with you.” The jury has been out for years on whether or not the Force gave a damn about Lando, but he’s open minded.

“Leia will like the sound of that,” Luke says, lightening. He finally takes his fresh glass of Mandalorian from the serving table and relaxes again. “Very wise. You’re sure you’ve never talked to a Jedi before?”

Lando leans in conspiratorially. “If I told you I had, d’you promise not to race off to meet them and leave me to drink alone?”

Luke touches a hand to his own chest, in oath. “I was raised with manners, I’d insist on you making the introductions.”

“Damn, now I wish I had a whole holocron of contacts,” Lando chuckles. “I could do worse than skipping around the rim worlds with you on my arm.”

The rosy blush on Luke’s face deepens. He attempts to hide it by looking towards the window again and its everchanging, beautiful vista. “Could you bear to leave this place for long, though?”

Lando squints, pretending to think about it. Bespin wasn’t necessarily where he wanted to be forever, but he didn’t have any loftier plans in mind, either. It wasn’t terrible having a home and familiar faces after so much of his life being spent on the go. “Maybe if you helped me steal back the _Falcon_...”

“Stealing wouldn’t be very good manners, remember?” Luke leans in closer for Lando to pour another glass and then sinks into the cushion, their knees touching.

“I wouldn’t really want to disgrace your heroic reputation,” Lando admits. He surprises himself with how much he really does mean it. “Somebody’s gotta do it for all us chumps. Thanks.”

“Thank you again, for taking us in,” Luke says, sincerely. “It’s an awful risk.”

“I like a little risk.”

Luke peers at him through a fallen curtain of his hair. “You’ve managed to keep Cloud City out of trouble this long...”

“Don’t worry about Lando Calrissian,” he grins. _No risk, no reward._ “Besides, what’s the good of living in the clouds if you can’t let in an angel?”

Luke’s mouth quirks at one corner, unwilling to admit a smile. He takes one last sip of his wine before putting it down “Is that the same kind of line you tractored Han with?”

“What makes you think _he_ wasn’t the one with the beam in that scenario?” Lando edges closer. A hand on a knee, then a hip.

“‘Cause I’m caught in it right now,” Luke breathes.

As he closes the distance between them, Lando can taste the strange blue wine the way Luke does.

-

Lando flags Luke down the next evening on his way out of the office. In a contrast to the impressive rebel commander’s uniform of yesterday, today he could be mistaken for any other casually dressed citizen of Cloud City. Shouldn’t that make him more approachable? Unsure where to insert the _It was really fantastic when you kissed me last night and that could happen again, but I know you’re really busy being a wizard or something, no pressure,_ he instead goes with “Hey, I’ve got a restock list here for the _Falcon_.”

“Oh yeah?” Luke stops and leans into the doorframe. “There’s nothing I love like datawork.”

“I thought there might be something you’d want to add. We could sit down and go over it.”

“However much potable water Han requested, double it,” Luke grins. “He has no idea how much an adult human ought to hydrate, and neither does Leia.”

Lando taps a note into the datapad. “Is that all?” he asks, a bit disappointed.

“Mhmm.” Luke crosses his arms slowly. “You don’t have to make up an excuse, you know. Just ask me to join you.”

-

Lando delays renewing a few contracts he suspects are a little too adjacent to Imperial interests. He doesn’t need any clients with big mouths blabbing to the Epire about unexpectedly meeting one of his rebel guests, they attract enough attention as it is. Leia can barely leave the apartment for being mobbed by gaggles of Cloud City’s children. Many of the little humanoids (and some of species with long enough fur) have taken to emulating her looping braids and fashioned themselves brightly colored sticks for playing Knights and Scoundrels. They sneak around the hangar that Leia and Luke have appropriated for their training, desperate for a glimpse of the real thing. And of course, Lando has waxed poetic about the ship to anyone on Bespin who’d listen, so Han and Chewie spent their days tuning up the _Millennium Falcon_ between shy visits from local gearheads. At the start of each day of their stay, Lobot supplies Lando with a report of scheduled departures who’ve met the _Falcon’s_ crew incase an ‘exit interview’ is necessary. No one asks him to, but he pays off a few pilots to lay a false trail, and broadcast that they’d run into the twins while fueling up in Eriadu, or played sabacc against Chewbacca on Koda Station.

Night after night at the end of days spent sparring and (Lando imagines) meditating while standing on his head, Luke finds his way to Lando’s couch and eventually his bed.

Weary but content, Lando lays awake with Luke’s head pillowed on his chest, chatting away. He can’t fathom how after a day full of running up the walls and a night of spent fooling around he isn’t desperate to sleep, but Lando does love to hear him talk.

“I can’t imagine wanting to be in stasis for a few decades. Isn’t life long enough?” Luke muses. “Though I suppose, what if you were extremely old with a passion for opera, and you just discovered a new composer with a whole career in front of them. You could catch up all at once when they do a retrospective concert before they retire, and die happy.”

“That’s a new one,” Lando chuckles. “I think most people are out to accrue a ridiculous amount of interest on their capital. Deposit thirty credits now, then sleep a few centuries and wake up a king.”

“When I was younger- before the war,” Luke tells him- “I used to think about what I’d grow up to be, if I didn’t have to be king.”

“Poor little rich boy.”

“I know, I know,” Luke laughs. His fingers move across Lando’s chest, connecting freckles and mapping the divots in muscle. The touch is just firm enough not to tickle. “I’ve been trying to remember what I had wanted to do back then. In case I do make it through the war.”

“You can’t remember? Did you want to be a Jedi, or a pirate? A mining mogul, or... a mining mogul’s gorgeous companion?”

It sounds as clumsy as Lando feels, fishing for commitment like this, but he’s rusty. Sure, he makes promises left and right, but there hasn’t been anyone special enough to make him want to keep said promises in years.

Luke laughs, but his hand goes still. “I didn’t particularly want to be a Jedi. I heard plenty of stories about them, but they all ended so sadly.”

“And now?”

The bed shifts as Luke suddenly pushes up on to an elbow, looking down at Lando. “Can I tell you something that you can’t tell anyone else? I’m not even sure if Leia’s told Han.”

He opens his mouth to say something flip like, _Well, if I can have one up on Han Solo, spill it,_ but the words are silenced when he looks in Luke’s haunted eyes. Their usual brightness is shadowed over in pain and confusion. Lando reaches up a hand to the side of Luke’s face and brushes his thumb on his cheek. “Luke. You can tell me.”

“Our father was a Jedi who was...” Luke searches for the right word, his brow twisting. “- _corrupted_ by the dark side of the Force. That’s why we were hidden. Now, we think he can feel us. That he’s looking for us.”

“You’re safe here.” Of course he’s sure Luke can hold his own- and dark Jedi or not, Lando’s never met someone faster on the draw than he and Han. Even Cloud City’s security was handpicked by Lobot! The guy didn’t have his brain cybernetically hacked for battlefield calculation for nothing.

Luke pulls away, rolls over and sits on the edge of the bed. A scar shaped like lightning stretches across his back, silvery in the low light. “We’ve already stayed too long. No one is safe here, because of us.”

“Luke...”

“Our father is Darth Vader.”

The temperature in the room seems to drop and Lando’s blood runs cold. When he gets up to kneel behind Luke, every shadow in the room seems as vast as a starless sky. He slips his arms around Luke’s shoulders, pulling him back from the void. This revelation certainly wires together a few loose circuits. All of Luke’s pain about the death toll of this war is wrapped up in fear of becoming like his father. Lando tucks his face into Luke’s neck.

“Let me help.”

Luke sighs heavily. “It’s not so simple. We’re not trying to kill him. Leia and I need to save him to end the war.”

“Then we’ll all put our heads together,” says Lando. “Isn’t that the idea of having an Alliance?”

-

Within days of putting out feelers, Lando’s contact in Nar Shaddaa says that none other than Boba Fett is on a tantalizing tracking job for the Empire. The contract is three million credits for an unnamed target that was announced the day after Yavin. It’s a pretty good hunch, so Lando starts formulating a plan and brings the others in. He’ll pose as an up and coming bounty hunter with the debut catch of a lifetime. Vader will come to collect, then they turn the tables, and the twins do whatever Force business they’ve got to do. They can predict that following Vader’s capture the Empires attention will be focused on Cloud City, so as soon as they have him in carbonite, the Falcon and her crew will need to evacuate. There are even a few factors in their favor; flight speeds and resources at hand. Two Force users against one. It’s easy to agree on the trap, but deciding on the bait is a struggle.

Chewbacca eyes them all warily, standing guard at the door of Lando’s office. Both Luke and Leia try to make their case to Lando, seated at his desk, while Han paces the room with a bluster that threatens to topple one of the freestanding sculptures.

“We still don’t know if the bounty is for me or Luke,” Leia growls. “I’m the only one running around with the Skywalker name. Luke might be safe if we don’t go broadcasting it!”

Luke frowns. “That’s assuming Vader has identified you at all. I’ve been a rebel figure for years, destroying the Death Star might have signed my death warrant.”

“Well, we’re not offering up both you,” Lando says, finitely. “We need as many people on the outside of this as possible.”

Suddenly, Han stops moving. “Me. We’ll offer me.”

“That doesn’t even make sense,” Leia sighs heavily. “Why would Vader show up?”

“Fett’s one of Jabba’s idiots. He’ll have my contract, so he’ll want to keep me alive,” Han explains. “If he can get me to roll over on you two for Vader, he can double dip.”

Chewbacca rumbles a plea to Han that he waves off.

“Vader will torture you,” Luke says, knowingly.

Lando forces the image of lightning shaped scars out of his mind, and makes himself rework the plan instead. It’s a big shift from his original idea, but he’s not precious about it. It might smooth over certain gaps, even. “It won’t seem as much like a trap to Vader if its Fett's invitation that brings him here,” Lando points out. “It’s a better plan.”

Leia stares at Han, mouth hanging open in shock until she shakes herself out of her silence. “Han, no! Vader might not come at all.”

Han doesn’t back down. “If he doesn’t show, me getting captured is still better than both of you getting killed! Which _will_ happen if you maniacs make yourselves the bait.” He glances at Lando to back him up.

Neither of them doubts the twins’s ability to defend them all from Vader. They're more worried they can’t do the same if Leia and Luke are restrained. Lando grits his teeth when Luke looks at him.

“They’re right, Leia,” Luke says, before Lando can find the right words. “It’ll be better if the two of us make the surprise attack.”

Leia lifts her chin, wobbling ever so slightly. “Fine.”

-

There’s no telling how long it will take for Fett to arrive to Bespin once Lando makes the call, so they agree to take a day to prepare for their exit and say their farewells. Armed with every known recording of Boba Fett, Lobot reviews his tactics and strategizes with city security. Chewie devises a speedy way to move a carbonite block from the processing facility to the _Falcon’s_ berth, and Han works with the droids to plot an untraceable series of jumps. When Luke and Leia are satisfied with the where, when, and how of their assault they coordinate with Lobot, who will give the signal for Fett and Vader’s arrivals. He provides them with two anode bracelets, tethered directly to his implants.

“Thanks, Lo,” Lando says, once he’s synced their devices. “I know at least your part of this will go perfectly.” He has a few contingency plans in mind for if various parts of the scheme go wrong, but he doesn’t bother to second guess Lobot.

With a steady nod, Lobot leaves the office.

“It’s a shame you won’t be coming with us, Lando,” Leia says, adjusting the fit of her bracelet. “You’d be a great asset.”

Lando takes her hand to fix the clasp and then kisses it graciously. “I’m sure we’ll run into each other again,” he promises. Leia stands on tip-toes to hug him goodbye and then leaves him alone in the office with Luke.

“You’d be bored anyway, once we’ve got him,” he says with a unsure smile. “Just endless hours of Leia and I trying to talk to a block.”

“Who’re you trying to convince?” Lando folds Luke into his arms. After a moment of hesitation, Luke’s hands creep underneath his cape, holding him back tight. “I’d be thrilled to be stuck with you on the Falcon-”

“I know. But if you stay and cover our tracks, Cloud City will be safe.” When Luke pulls back to look up at Lando, he is peacefully determined again. “And then I’ll know where to find you.”

It’s the first time Luke has mentioned their future, beyond these few weeks before the Rebellion assembles again. Lando’s chest squeezes for fear this isn’t real. He swallows hard. _Let me down easy,_ he thinks. _It’s all right_. It was nice while it lasted. “You’re just saying that, right?”

In answer, Luke tilts up and kisses him deeply. It warms Lando all the way through until even his toes are tingling. When they part again, Luke looks at him with such tenderness that it finally vanishes his doubts. “I’m fighting this war for everyone,” he says. “But I’ll survive it for you.”

“Please do,” says Lando. He lets go of Luke and excuses himself to send off his message to Fett before they go to spend whatever time they have left together.

-

“ _Lando Calrissian, Baron Administrator of Cloud City. I have someone in my brig that I don’t have the time to deal with, but I hear is worth a bounty to you. So whaddya say you take Han Solo off my hands, and maybe we can reach a mutually beneficial arrangement?”_

_-_

His face is gathered in Luke’s hands when the anode bracelet blips its first signal; Boba Fett has arrived to Cloud City. Lando covers Luke’s hand with his own and turns his nose into it, kissing his palm. Elsewhere, Leia’s bracelet will be warning Han that it’s time to get in place. They have just a few minutes before things begin, now. Lando will escort Fett to the brig, Leia and Luke will sneak to their hiding place, to stay out of sight until the second signal.

Luke sets his mouth into a grim, thin line. “It’s now or never.”

Of course it’s now. They owe it to Han to give it everything they’ve got. They owe it to everyone in galaxy, really.

Lando stands and picks up his cape from where it was draped over the back of the couch, fixing it to his collar without a word. He’s not sure what to say. What if this is it? Fett might take some offense and kill him on the spot- or the twins might be no match for Vader.

“If anyone can smooth talk their way in and out of this, it’s you,” Luke says. When he stands up, for the first time Lando can see what his troops must when they look at their commander. Not simply a serene prince, or an openhearted friend, or even an heir to the powers of the Force, but a man in possession of Inspiration. “You’re in the position to do what needs to be done,” Luke says, quoting him back to himself.

Lando gives him one last kiss. “May the Force be with you,” he says for the first time without irony.

Passing through his suite and into his office, Lando checks a tablet for Lobot’s sitrep. The less time he can spend shooting the breeze with the bounty hunter, the better. He taps a comm to speak with the attendant currently with Fett.  
  
“Please bring our guest meet me outside the cell block.”  
  
“Yessir,” the comm replies.

Within four minutes Lando navigates the chrome and titanium white plazas of Cloud City to the Southern quarter, where Fett waits for him, like a green splotch of mold in his beautiful home.

“Welcome to Bespin,” Lando calls, on his approach. “Big fan of your work. It’s an honor to have you with us.”

“Administrator,” cracks Fett’s vocoder. “Show me the prisoner before we discuss your terms.”

“Ah, a businessman much like myself,” says Lando. He keys in his access code, hoping to the Force that the ‘prisoner’ is already inside.

With a clank of the deadbolt and woosh, the bulkhead slides open revealing another attendant and a row of cells, the middlemost of which is already occupied by Han, thank Force.

“Afternoon, Drom,” Lando greets the attendant.

At sight of them, Han snarls. “You’re a double dealing cheat, Calrissian! A slimy coward!”  
  
Lando laughs, playing the part of the vengeful former friend. “It’s good to see you too.”  
  
“If you want the ship back so bad you oughta kill me for it instead of getting some moon-jockey to do your dirty work for you,” Han bellows.

“As you can see, he’s in premium condition. I’m sure Jabba will appreciate that,” Lando says, turning back to Fett.

“I know what Jabba is paying me, but what do you get out of it?” Fett glances around suspiciously. “Finder’s fee?”  
  
Lando stares at Han, eyes narrowed. “I don’t want money for this scum. I’ve already got the ship back that he stole off me,” he spits. “But I do have another interest that I don’t mind telling you about. I have a tibanna mine here, and I’d like to move it into some new markets. I was thinking I could give you and ol’ Jabba a demonstration of how useful carbonite can be for transporting and-” he laughs low- “... _displaying_ prisoners.”

“What?!” Han reacts perfectly on cue, turning from defiant to fearful. He stands in his cell and throws himself against the plasmic barrier. “You can’t. Lando! It could blind me! It could kill me...”

Dismissively, Lando waves a hand. “One in eight hundred freezings,” he assures Fett. “It’s close to no odds.”

“Please, Lando!”  
  
His appetite for violence apparently whetted by Han’s furious bid for mercy, Fett nods. “Could be less trouble than shackles and a gag...”

“Fett! Fett! I’ll come quietly, I swear I will,” Han begs, sliding down to his knees. “Just tell me you haven’t caught Skywalker yet.”

Boba Fett’s helmeted head snaps to Han as fast as only mention of a three million credit bounty can. “What do you know about Skywalker?” he orders.

Han doesn’t respond, instead collapsing into muffled sobs.

“I think they were lovers,” says Lando.

“I’ll take Solo. In carbonite,” Fett decides. “But first I need to contact someone. He may wish to join us for your demonstration.”

Lando turns to Han and kicks the plasmic field, seeking the word of proof that their little show has worked. “You piss off someone even bigger than Jabba?”

“Make sure you’re suitably prepared for a visit from Lord Vader,” says Fett.

Han looks up at Lando, sullen. The worst is yet to come. They have to trust that Jabba’s price is higher than whatever satisfaction Vader might get from destroying Han to get one step closer to his child.

-

There’s no safer time for Luke and Leia to get into position than while Lando has Boba Fett distracted, so when Lando leaves the cell block to wait the few hours for Darth Vader’s arrival, he can’t seek them out. At least they have each other, he thinks.

Hopefully, as Vader is coming only to witness a freezing of an already captured man, only the bare minimum of stormtroopers will arrive with him. Lando double checks Lobot’s tactical plans, then triple checks. He comms Chewie on the _Falcon_ to be sure that he and the droids are out of the way for now, perched on the belly of the city. A report from the team on standby to disable Fett’s ship comes in, saying he’s on the move, and then finally- Vader’s arrival.

With Lobot, Lando meets Fett again as they await his landing on the same platform the _Millenium Falcon_ had first arrived, weeks ago. From out of the familiar skies, the Imperial shuttle appears and folds its wings into a dagger-like point and comes to rest before them. Lando straightens his spine when the ramp lowers and moments later, a hulking black figure descends followed by his skeletal soldiers.

Raising his hands in greeting, Lando steps forward. “Welcome, Lord Vader. I’m honored that Boba Fett invited you to join us today,” he says, undaunted.

The deepest, least organic voice Lando has ever heard emits from the cold mask. “Very well. Lead me to the prisoner.”

When Lando turns to lead the way, it's all he can do not to start sprinting, knowing who is on his heels. Beside him he can see Lobot darting his eyes, counting troopers and formulating orders for his team. Lando focuses on keeping pace with Boba Fett, who seems completely at ease.

_Do you suppose the mask makes it easier?_

It must.

Upon their arrival Lando musters up the nerve to turn around and face Vader again. In the more utilitarian, lower-ceilinged cellblock he nearly fills the corridor with his bulk.

“This is him,” says Lando.

He lowers the plasmic barrier when Vader demands a private interview, then stands outside of the closed bulkhead with Boba Fett, forcing himself to listen to the screams of his oldest friend. Hopefully Han can convincingly feed Vader the false trail before he’s too helpless to hide the truth, but it’s impossible to tell what’s going on. Minutes tick by. Lando picks a point on the wall to stare at, avoiding making eye contact with either the cellblock attendant or Lobot.

When the door slides open again, Vader steps through over Han’s sweat drenched body, huddled on the floor. As far as Lando can see he’s still breathing.

Vader towers over Fett, looking unchanged by his encounter just moments before. “I have new coordinates for Skywalker,” he rumbles. “You will bring her to me next.”

Lando takes a deep breath before speaking up. “My Lord, you’re welcome to join us for Captain Solo’s freezing. It may prove an effective means of containing Skywalker in the future.”

All though Lando’s sure Vader never forgets about someone at his flank, he turns back to look at Lando in a way that shouts _I did not think it necessary for you to speak in my presence._

Fett shifts his weight, impatient to get on with his work. “Will the demonstration be imminent?”

“Absolutely,” Lando assures them. “Let’s move on to the facility, and my people will bring Solo.”

“As you say,” Vader agrees, nodding to his squad of stormtroopers.

With a sweep of his cape, Lando leads them away. It’s almost over. Chewie will be at their evacuation point, waiting for Drom to help Han back to the _Falcon_. Lando has done what he needs to do, save for join forces with Lobot’s team disguised as smelters. Together they’ll take out Fett and troopers and leave Vader to the twins. Everything was playing right into their hands, but that was no reason not to stay on guard. If there’s one thing a gambler knows not to trust at this stage in the game, it's the temptation to relax.

“We have two more chambers with this set up,” Lando says, trying to reign in their attention as they enter the freezing facility. “And there are dozens more for freight purposes, of course.”

Four technicians stand at various consoles and valves on the platform, looking unassuming. They already have the chamber cooling, with pumps primed to release the gas. Blue light from the tibanna tanks plays off the armor of the four troopers that assume guard of the exit. Schedule ‘E’, then. If Lobot could still smile, he’d be beaming. Lando takes the few steps to the platform and circles to his own control panel, where the switch will be thrown. As soon as Vader gets up here with him, Luke and Leia will make their move.

Fett edges up to the thin elevator that ordinarily would lower into the freezing chamber, but is rigged to drop suddenly for this particular occasion. “Let’s get on with it. Where’s Solo?”

Still in the lower half of the room, Vader looks around. He stops, raising a hand to his troopers. “ _Skywalker_.”

Lando slams open the panel hiding his blaster and ducks behind his control panel for cover. Suddenly the air is filled with the noise of blaster fire so loud that Lando doesn’t even hear the lightsabers igniting over head. Either Leia or Luke drops down from the gantry above in a white streak, deflects two bolts from Fett’s blaster rifle, and flips out of sight. Dodging out from his cover, Lando lays down some fire, taking out the nearest stormtrooper and checking Fett’s position. He’s not where Lando expects... He’s not anywhere on the platform, but floating in the air, having ignited his jetpack.

“Oh, hell.”

His position isn’t shielded from an aerial attack, but he’s got to be ready for the switch when Luke and Leia battle Vader towards the chamber. Lando edges around to the other side of his cover, where Lobot catches his eye and holds up three fingers. One Vader, one Fett, one stormtrooper left. Without exposing himself, Lando blasts a few rounds over the top of his console at an angle that shouldn’t harm anyone whose feet are firmly planted on the platform. There’s a red flash, and a sputtering that he can’t sort out. Lobot signals again- two fingers.

Hoping he managed to catch Fett after all, Lando slowly stands. Leia is driving Vader back while Luke leaps in between her and Fett, coming in hot with his maimed jetpack and firing wildly. At the same moment that she manages to trip Vader backward, one of Fett’s wild shots catches Luke in the leg and both are sent sprawling. The elevator gives way and they disappear into the chamber.

“Luke!” Leia screams, scrambling up to the edge.

Lando fires a final shot at Fett, then looks down into the pit. Luke is slumped against the chamber wall opposite of Vader, breathing hard with a saber at his throat. “Do it!” he shouts.

Without thinking, he does.

The containment doors shut, sealing the two in as gases fill the chamber rapidly. All around the platform, hoses that took damage in the crossfire leak in thin spouts of smoke. Lando glances at the levels on his control panel. “The balance is off,” he realizes. He tries to manually adjust for the ruptured supplies.

Putting out her lightsaber, Leia rushes to his side. “What does that mean?”

Lando shakes his head, unwilling to give voice to the thought. _It could kill them_. The chamber below clanks as the carbonite within hardens, expanding to fulfil its mould. Two ugnaughts from Lobot’s team that are still standing after the attack back away warily.

“It’s done,” says Lando, hitting the button that lowers the retrieval claw. The whine of machinery as it descends is like the scream he refuses to let out.

A monumental block of metal begins to raise as the chamber continues to belch gas. Leia hovers at the edge of the chamber, hands outstretched to guide it. On the surface closest to the onlookers are two figures, Luke and Vader locked in a permanent face-off.

“We have to get out of here,” Lando says, activating the gravsled Chewbacca rigged for their escape.

“We?” Leia asks. “I thought you were staying to protect the city!”  
  
“You’re down a Jedi, and Han is... not in good shape,” he admits. “You need me more.” Lando whips around to look at Lobot. “Schedule X, Lo! The city is under mandatory evacuation.”

Lobot nods in silent understanding, gripping Lando’s arm. He points, indicating a final count; four troopers between here and the fountain. Five more between there and the platform.

Lando grips back. “Goodbye, friend.”

With a pull of a lever and a mighty shove, they get the block on the gravsled and maneuver it toward the exit.

“You steer, I’ll clear the way,” Leia says, reigniting her blade.

-

The stars stretch into rays of light, then pop into an entirely new starfield, then streak again, over and over. Lando and Chewbacca set the Millenium Falcon on the complex sequences of jumps Han programmed for their escape from Cloud City. It’s an unpredictable tangle of lightspeed hops and sublight redirects that will take the better part of four standard-days to execute once they lock in.

Chewie grumbles about it being overkill.

“Is that possible when you’ve just kidnapped Darth Vader?!” Lando begins shutting down launch systems so they can coast through the next few pre-sets. “Have you got this? I’ll go see what’s happening with Han.”

Before he can finish asking, Chewbacca yelps and starts shoving him out of his seat towards the door.

The corridor between the cockpit and the main hold has never seemed so long. Lando swings around the corner by hooking his hand into the rim of a bulkhead, then stops cold. For some reason he had expected Han would be upright by now, so his heart sinks when he sees him laid out on the bench. Leia cradles Han’s sweaty head in her lap while offering him water, murmuring low.

“I’m so sorry. He did this because of me,” she says. “I’ll make it right.”

Lando clears his throat. “There should be saline in the med-box.”  
  
“He has already had two units,” Threepio reports from the corner.

“Might be another in the escape pod.” Lando draws closer, looking for details. Splotchy bruises are beginning to wrap around Han’s throat, as thought he was thrown across the room by the neck. Mercifully, there’s no blood or the spidery sort of scarring Luke has. Had? He glances at their morbid piece of cargo. With it laid flat on the floor of the hold it mostly looks like a poorly cut chunk of ore. One thing at a time, he decides. “What else can we do for Han?”

“Drom already loaded him up on bacta and a stim,” Leia sighs. “But he couldn’t treat whatever Vader did to his mind by forcing his way in.”

“Can you do that?” Lando knows that Luke and Leia can connect minds painlessly, but stars knows if that’s a twin thing, a Force thing, or what.

Leia looks at him, eyes wide. “I would never...”

“You wouldn’t be like Vader. Han loves you- you’d be welcome.”

With a nod, Leia exhales. She places her wide-spread hands on Han’s chest, and begins by matching her breathing to his; at first shallow but then becoming deeper. Although she says nothing aloud, her lips move. If its some Jedi prayer or a more personal entreaty, Lando doesn’t know, but he’s so focused on her face that he doesn’t notice at first when Han begins to do the same.

The silent ritual becomes words. _The Force is with me_ , “-and I am one with the _what now_?” Han sputters. He pushes himself up on the bench, then rubs his throat.

“Oh thank goodness,” Leia cries, throwing her arms around him. “We did it, thanks to you.”

“Relax,” he coughs. “I’ve already been throttled once today.”

Lando breathes a sigh of relief. “Glad you’re all right, buddy.”

“Me too. Hey- you weren’t supposed to be coming along, were you?”  
  
Leia pulls back from kissing Han’s cheek. “Change of plans,” she says. “We have a problem.”

With Han out of danger, Lando turns to the carbonite block and kneels. Everything was happening so fast while they made their escape, he hadn’t had the chance to check the gauge. On the side of the slab, there are several rows of lights that indicate temperature, composition integrity, and the like. Usually they could be used to determine if an individual is in perfect hibernation, but as the cocktail of gases was off and they’d accidentally frozen two people... they were insensible.

“The read outs are all faulty,” Lando tells them. “If Luke and Vader are in there dying or already dead, there’s no way to tell.” He brushes his fingers down the protrusion that is Luke’s arm, as if he could tell by touch.

Leia, who might actually have that ability, comes over and hovers at the head of the block. She balls her hands into fists, clearly unsure if she wants to know for certain. “If I’ve killed them both...”

“You are _not_ taking the blame for this,” Lando says firmly. He’ll punish himself enough, no one else needs to.

As she had with Han, Leia lays her hands on each of the figures, but before she can take more than one breath she hisses and pulls back.

“I can’t feel past Vader. He’s terrible. Malevolent,” she says.

Han leans over. “He’s alive for now, then. Luke probably is too,” he reasons. “Lando, can Leia just chop this thing in half so we can get him out of there?”

“It’s a giant circuit, basically. It needs to be whole or it won’t restore either of them,” Lando explains. “The complications with the gas, Luke’s wounds, the technology not being designed to support two- this is the definition of unstable.”

“We’ve got days before we’ll be able to land somewhere.” Han scrubs his face with both hands. “Obviously we can’t deal with Vader running lose on the ship until then.”

Leia slumps until she’s sitting on the deck. She looks nearly as exhausted as Han. “Not without Luke in fighting shape.”

Threepio totters up to the three of them, expressionless as ever. “If there is nothing that can be done for several days, may I suggest ‘sleeping on it’?” he says. “I find things often look much better after a recharge.”

“I hate that you’re right,” Han says. He squeezes Leia’s shoulder and she stands up, wrapping her hands around one of his arms. “C’mon sweetheart.”

Lando sits on the edge of a crate, in sight of the carbonite, thinking. Distantly, he hears the droids leave to hold to power-off, and the voices of Han and Chewbacca as they check in with each other in the cockpit. Closer, like it’s being whispered in his ear, he remembers things that Luke had said.

_I‘ll survive it for you._

Lando crawls into a bunk where he can still see them and tries to get comfortable, but it’s been years since he’s spent a night on the Falcon. He’s not as young as he used to be, when he’d conk out on a pile of rubble given the chance. He’s unaccustomed to the sounds of Han’s modifications and the emergency lights are all the wrong colors, which keeps him up. Nevermind that he misses his climate controlled apartment in Cloud City and his own bed. Luke in his bed, more recently.

For hours he stays awake, torturing himself with hypotheticals. Say they run out the clock, and neither survives the freezing. Maybe Luke felt his life was worth sacrificing if it meant bringing down Vader. What if Leia felt that way? They were siblings, sure, but they'd only been back in each others lives for a little over a standard year. Vader has been an evil in the galaxy for decades. She might see no sense in the risk of unfreezing Vader if his loss was a net gain. But if they accept Luke and Vader both as good as dead, what do they do to ensure Vader stays gone? Destroy the block? That felt wrong. Can Leia even face the Emperor alone?

No. Luke will survive, he tells himself. He just needs to be given the chance. Lando falls asleep trying to decide what the best outcome is, so he can start plotting a way toward it.

-

“What does a prison that can hold Vader even look like?” Lando asks. He’s been innocuously floating ideas all day.

Chewbacca only shrugs.

“Say you find a cage that can hold him,” Lando goes on. “How can you convince whatever planet it’s on not to rat you out to the Empire? Even somewhere friendly to the Rebellion is likely to have some troops,” Lando says, gripping the flight column tighter. They’re on one of the sublight stretches at the moment, dodging asteroids. “I think we get them out, somewhere uninhabited. There’s no one around to get hurt. Tie Vader to the biggest rock we find and get out. Come back in a month or two when Luke is in better shape and Vader’s lost all his fight.”

Even if being marooned with nothing doesn’t break him. Even if it just makes him more deadly.

With an ambivalent growl, Chewie imagines that he’ll be the one asked to do the tieing.

“Probably,” Lando admits. “ But we all live to fight another day.”

-

Another night, when Lando has just gotten used to his bunk, he wakes at the sound of a soft voice. He doesn’t roll over or even open his eyes to see, he just listens.

“Luke, you need to be louder than Vader,” Leia says. “You need to tell me you’re all right. What do you want me to do?”

In a few hours their escape route will be complete, but they still haven’t agreed where to stop. Leia hasn’t been able to commit to a timeline for unfreezing Luke and Vader, and the others aren’t sure it’s their place to push back or not. There’s some consensus that it would be good to swing by someplace busy enough that they can put up an anonymous rebel beacon and get an update on the fleet, and refuel a bit. But of course, there’s the fear of causing some unsuspecting populace harm with their mere presence, regardless of whether or not they choose to unleash Vader.

When Leia speaks again she sounds surprised. “I don’t know where I need to be.”

There’s a long pause, as though there’s a second voice Lando can’t hear.

“What do I do about them?”

Another pause. The scrape of Leia’s feet as she stands.

“That’s... not very reassuring, Kah.”

By morning, Lando isn’t sure he heard anything at all, or if it was just a dream. No clue who or what ‘Kah’ might be. When he wakes up in earnest the hold is empty except for the slab of carbonite, still laid out where he can see it from the bunk. He pulls on is boots again before he groggily climbs down and then crosses to it, sweeping his hand long the edge closest to Luke. It’s hard to ignore the perpetually winced expression on his face, so Lando instead focuses on his hand, still clutching the lightsaber, with the signal bracelet on his wrist. He remembers its tender touch instead of the cool, hard surface beneath his fingertips.

“We’re gonna get you out of there real soon,” he promises. “Today, if I have anything to say about it.”

In the cockpit Lando finds that Leia has already volunteered to pilot the _Falcon_ and before long, they come in view of a little blue world so dominated by ocean that he at first mistakes it for a gas planet.

“You want to land on that?” he asks, leaning over Chewie’s chair. “Where?”

“There’ll be a place. Somewhere.”

They come in over a verdant island that peaks out of the water in three points like the clawed hand of some giant being. There’s very little flat area to bring in the _Falcon_ , save for a narrow shelf that appears to have been made when a fourth peak fell into the sea. A flurry of squawking birds scatter as they land, disturbed by the noise of the _Millennium Falcon’s_ own cry.

Leia stands on the lowered ramp, strapping a pack to her back and a grappleblaster to her hip. Han does the same.

“So what’s the plan?” Lando asks.

As if it’s the most obvious thing in the world, Leia gestures outside. “I follow the Force and hope for the best.”

"Hope for the best," Lando mutters. It’s not a concrete action like he had wanted, but if it helps Leia sort herself out, he can get over it. Lando gestures to Chewbacca and himself. “And what do you want us to do?”  
  
“Just stay here and keep Luke safe until we get back,” says Leia, touching each of their arms.

“That’s all?”

“That’s it.”

Sniffing the air, Chewie warns them of the weather, but Leia starts off down the ramp and onto the rock of the island, in her own little world.

“Thanks for the heads up,” Han says, pulling on a jacket. “But I bet we’ll be back before the rain.”

“You’ve got a comm on you, right?” If it takes any longer than a half day he’ll get Han to reign her back in so they can make a decision already.

Han pulls a face. “Geez, Ma. Don’t worry! I’ll let you know if we find our ghost.”

A ghost? Lando squints. “Is that what we’re doing here? Looking for a ghost?”

“Well, it's more that a ghost told Leia to come here,” Han says, impatient. He glances over his shoulder, and sees that Leia has already taken off. “I really don’t have time to get into it. Take care.” With a salute, he turns on his heel and down the ramp.

“You too.”

It’s definitely strange, but Lando’s not so sure it's any stranger than the other things he’s seen these past few weeks.

Chewbacca offers a round or two of dejarik to kill the time which Lando gladly accepts. Eventually they dig up a sabacc deck and switch to that for a while so the droids can join in, too. They’re terrible cheats, but Chewie and Lando are even worse. At least unlike the last time Lando spent a day gambling with the wookiee they aren’t playing for money, so no one loses a limb when tempers inevitably flare. After a few games they could all use a cool down, so he takes a lap around the _Falcon_ to get a look at the terrain with some quadnocs he found in the hold. They’re a little buggy, but sure enough the storm Chewie had smelled earlier hangs over the sea, steadily creeping towards them. Otherwise, the horizon is unbroken in every direction. Lando turns the quadnocs up at the three peaks of the island, looking for a sign of his friends but doesn’t discover much besides more birds. Even they start to hunker down and go still as the fog surrounding the storm starts to blanket the island.

“Guess I’d better head in, too.”

Back aboard the ship, Chewie protests when only Lando comes back.

“Yeah, I know Han said they’d be back before the rain. They probably don’t want to get caught in it on the their way back and took shelter,” he reasons.

They turn in for the night, and the storm comes and goes while they sleep, but by the next sunrise Han and Leia still haven’t returned.

Lando fires up the comms, not even waiting for the frequency to clear from its persistent static.

“Han? Han, come in, will you?”

Only static.

He tries again and again on the main console, but nothing. Wracking his brain, Lando climbs into the gunner wells to try those headsets, too.

Chewbacca growls in disbelief.

“I hear ya,” Lando agrees. He tosses the last headset on the bench and sits on the edge of the dejarik table. “There’s no way they’re all broken, it’s probably a magnetic thing with the planet.” When in doubt, blame magnetism. Even more inexplicable than the Force itself.

Lando stares at the carbonite block, feeling as trapped as though it were him shelled in ore. Usually by now in the day, Leia would have done her laying-on of hands, and though she can’t read Luke past Vader’s presence it does manage to put his fears at ease for a while.

A disgusting thought starts to form in the back of Lando’s head. Maybe while Leia is busy looking for some damn ghost, they’ll lose them both. They’ll die, because they have no reason not to. Luke will be gone, and the twins will never get their shot to bring Vader back to the light. Nothing will get any better. The war will only end because there are no more rebels left to fight, and the Empire will reign forever.

He hates the thought and does everything he can to stop thinking it, but he can't just hope for the best like Leia, either.

“Sir,” says Threepio. “Perhaps we might take the ship around the island and see if we can at least establish visual contact?”

“I don’t know...”

Stay here and keep Luke safe- that was the only directive Leia gave him. Well, Luke wasn’t safe the longer they put off freeing him. Lando could put an end to that without getting more than a few paces from the _Falcon_.

Lando stands up and approaches the slab, this time on Vader’s side. “Chewie, remember what I said about tying a certain someone to a rock?”

Chewbacca grunts.

“Would you mind pushing him off a cliff instead?”

-

Wind whips at them on the cliff’s edge. As Lando positions the carbonite a metre from the steep drop, Chewbacca stands at the ready, half in shadow cast by the _Falcon_. They don’t have a lot of time to play with. Hibernation sickness affects everyone differently. Lando can’t even guess what it does to someone with as much machinery in him as this brute, but he ought to be insensible for at least a minute. They have to reverse the freeze, dispose of Vader, get Luke back on the ship and then find the others so they can leave.

“I’m going to do it,” Lando breathes. “Four, three, two-“

Chewbacca roars, and the carbonite bursts into a searing red. The preservation field melts away with a trickling sound and the hardened carbonite reverts to gas, dropping the two bodies encased inside in the middle of a now useless frame. Immediately, Chewie pounces. With his mighty arms he pulls Vader up by the neck, not a moment to lose.

“At last...” Vader crackles. The electronics in his mask spark from the residual condensation. He swings a heavy arm and manages to hit Chewie in the ribs.

“C’mon, Chewbacca!” Lando shouts, ducking the further flailing of limbs.

In retaliation, Chewie shakes Vader by the throat so sharply there’s a plastoid pop and the hiss of a personal respirator. Lando braces himself for the grisly sight of whatever that helmet is hiding when it flies off, clattering to the ground and rolling some distance. As though it was a venomous creature, he jumps back and nearly loses his footing on the rough terrain. He only sees a flash of yellow eyes and sallow, rotted skin before Chewie howls and hurdles Vader into the sea below.

As suddenly as he gets his balance back, Lando is on his knees, scooping Luke into his arms. He’s limp and still bloodstained from the skirmish in Cloud City. “I’ve got you,” he says softly. “Can you hear me?” Lando holds Luke’s head against his shoulder, patting his cheek. His damp hair smells like rust.

“Lando?” Luke coughs weakly and struggles for a moment but exhausts himself quickly. “Where’s... where.”

“You’re gonna be a little out of it,” Lando tells him. He grabs both Luke and Vader’s sabers from the ground and stuffs them down the front of Luke’s tunic before he forgets. “I’ll get you fixed up.”

“I can’t see,” Luke realizes. He begins to shiver.

“That’s normal, I think.” Academically, Lando’s aware of temporary blindness as a possible side effect of hibernation, but this is the first time he’s witnessing it in person. Slinging Luke’s arm around his neck, Lando stands to pull him up. “We’re on an uninhabited planet. Vader’s out of the way. For now.” He doubts the fall killed him. They’ll get another round with him someday, but probably not for a while.

Luke presses into his side, clinging tight as he trembles. “Are _you_ all right? Sound scared.”

“I- I’m fine,” Lando stutters. Does the wind steal the breath out of his mouth, or is he shocked that even in the most dire condition Luke still turns his concern outward instead of inward?  “You’re the one I’m worried about. Can you walk? I’ve got to get you back on the ship so we can find Leia and Han and get outta here.”

“Right...”

He tries to put his weight on his leg but crumples. Lando just manages to catch him before he falls on the rough, rocky ground. He sweeps Luke off his feet and carries him to the _Falcon’s_ ramp where Threepio and Artoo are waiting.

“Sir, Artoo tracked some movement on the second peak, halfway up the ridge. It may be Mistress Leia and Captain Solo.”

The little blue droid burbles in confirmation, and Chewie hoists the quadnocs to look.

“Great,” says Lando, pushing past. He’s not stopping until he gets to one of the bunks within. “Get that extra saline and stim from the escape pod, will ya? We’ll start off that way as soon as I get Luke taken care of.”

Threepio throws his arms in the air in alarm. “Certainly!”

Once Lando has him laid out, Luke’s shivering only gets worse. “Cold,” he chatters.

“You’re in shock,” says Lando, ripping three batca patches off a roll with his teeth. He gets them on Luke’s wound as quickly as he can with his own shaking hands, then pulls a heap of blankets out from under the bunk. He tucks them around Luke with extra care, bending low to kiss Luke goodbye. He really, really doesn’t want to leave him in this state. “Just relax. They’ll hook you up with the good stuff in a minute. I have to go bring your sister back. Till then, Threepio’s in charge and Artoo’s in charge of Threepio.’

Luke half smiles, so he’s got at least a few of his wits about him, Lando figures. Good enough. Before he can think better of putting Threepio in charge of the _Falcon_ , he makes himself go.

Crossing from the ship to Chewie, Lando encounters Vader’s mask glaring up at him from between two crags.

“I really don’t wanna touch you,” he sighs, crouching. The idea of leaving it here is worse, somehow. Like it’s a seed that could take root and grow some horrible tree. Careful to use only two fingers, he picks it up by one of the flares.

Just then Chewbacca comes over and informs him that the best way to get to the ridge will be to circle the peak to the other side.

“You mind? Uh-” Lando dangles the mask at Chewie, who sighs like a parent forced to carry a child’s toy when they’ve tired of it. Wookiees are well known to be unenthusiastic about enemy trophies, but he opens his bag and packs it away all the same.

“Let’s go then,” says Lando, charging onward. They need to push ahead. Get a new plan.

They trudge along through a muddy stream for better part of an hour, about a quarter of the way around the base. The ship is out of sight behind the terrain, now. While it’s true the rain has washed away any tracks Leia and Han might have left, it also dusted off an ancient, steep staircase carved into the hillside. It traces up and around the peak in a dashed line. Here and there it has crumbled away, but it’s definitely a path the others would have gravitated towards. With frustration they realize they neglected to grab some gear as they begin their ascent. It only gets chillier as they climb higher.

“You see anything? Smell anything?”

Chewie isn’t sure, but he has a good feeling. He roars for Han as loud as he can, his voice echoing on the wind.

For half an hour they scrabble up from one ledge to another where a long portion of staircase has broken away, when finally they see the white of someone’s shirt several meters above them. Lando stops in his tracks, panting. No sense in going any higher. Let them come down.

Leia flits down first, leaping from point to point without a false step. Her hair streams behind her in a mess of curls, free from her usual braids.

“What’re you doing here?” she asks, panicked. “Where’s Luke?”

Lando holds up a hand. “I don’t know why, but comms aren’t working here at all. He’s safe on the ship.”  
  
“I can hear him now,” says Leia, mostly to herself. Han finally grapples down beside her.

"What’s going on?”

He may as well confess. “We had to let them out, Leia. You were gone, and he was only in more danger the longer we left him be!”

“And what did you do with Vader!?” Han rounds on Lando, grabbing him by the collar. If Lando should have expected anyone to throttle him, it was definitely Vader’s latest victim.

With a frustrated growl, Chewbacca admits their plan and pulls the mask from his bag.

Leia’s eyes go wide with fright, and immediately she turns away to start scoping out the path down. One hand covers the lightsaber on her belt, ready for attack.

Lando shoves Han off him. There’s no time for this. “I’m as disappointed as anyone the carbonite trap didn’t work!” he shouts. It was his plan, after all. “I had to cut our losses before Luke was one of them.”

“Behind our backs?” Han seethes. “Just cause you’ve got a crush on him doesn't mean you get to make that call, Calrissian.”

Shame thaws Lando’s wind-whipped face.

Leia turns suddenly. “Shuttup, Han. For all I know Kah sent us away so that Lando would make the choice I couldn’t. Now- we have to get back to the ship.”

They race down the mountain and back through the muddy trench between the peaks of the island, with the wind and the Force at their backs. When they begin rounding the curve back onto the rocky shelf where the _Falcon_ is perched, they see its nose, floating and wavering slightly.

Lando turns to Chewie. “Did the droids start the engine running?”

Chewie balks. There’s no engine sound. Even over the wind they would hear it.

“No,” Leia grunts, pushing herself to run even faster. When she gets far enough ahead to see the entirety of the Falcon, she skids to a stop and the others catch up.

On the rocky shelf where they had landed stands Darth Vader, unmasked, arms outstretched. His exposed flesh somehow looks even paler than before and his cape flaps sluggishly, still dripping with seawater. Above him hangs the _Falcon_ , unnaturally suspended. At the sight of them, he demonstrates his control by rotating the ship with a gesture of his deadly hands.

“Luke’s in there,” Lando chokes. His heart is in his throat.

“No more running from your destiny, Skywalker!" calls Vader. With a hard throw of his arms, the _Millenium_ _Falcon_ lurches dangerously close to the cliffs.

“No!” Leia cries, and flings her own hands into the air. Her teeth grit as she fights to pull the _Falcon_ back from being dashed upon the rocks. She strains to claim control of the ship, but it’s clear she’s not going to overcome Vader in a simple contest of strength.

“Lando...” Han says quietly, covering his grappleblaster.

He knows what Han’s thinking. Maybe they can get up on top of the ship by way of the mountain and pull Luke out- “...but we can’t leave without the Falcon anyway,” he whispers back.

Han’s hand drops.

Vader coughs, apparently worse for the wear after his plummet and not at his best without a full suit. If possible, this mundane weakness makes him angrier. “You are strong but the darkness is stronger than the light! Join-” Vader rasps terribly again, wracking his whole body. His arms begin to tremble slightly. “Join me! With your brother we will seize the Empire and be its masters.”

Leia shakes her head at Vader, but discreetly beckons Chewbacca to her side. “There are no masters of the dark side of the Force, Father!” She holds out her hand behind her back. “There are only slaves.” Chewie slips Vader’s mask into her waiting hand. “We are the first Skywalkers born free in thirty generations, and we won’t turn back. Join _us_.”

 _Good_ , Lando thinks. _Keep talking_. Like any good gambler, she can take the advantage by using what personal information she has on her opponent.

The Falcon drops by several metres. Without Leia’s aid in keeping the ship aloft, Vader’s chest heaves in clear distress.

Leia starts to approach Vader slowly. “You don’t have to become a Jedi again. You just have to see that the Emperor is your enemy.” She stops just an arms length away from her father, chin held high to look him in the eye for the first time. “Let us free you,” she says, revealing his mask and offering it to him. “Let us show you mercy.”

The landing struts of the _Falcon_ meet the ground once again. Han, Lando, and Chewbacca edge closer very slowly, ready to react to anything.

“You... have the courage of your mother,” Vader says, raising a hand. Instead of taking the mask from Leia, he delicately touches the curls that fall on her shoulder. He hangs his head and wheezes. “I have been a coward.”

“That was Vader. This...this may be the bravest thing that Anakin Skywalker has ever done.” Leia reaches up with the helmet and gently clips it back into place.

Once again, the sounds of his assisted breathing resume.

Leia turns to her friends, now gathered only a few paces away. “Let us talk. It’s all right.”

“I’d feel better if-” Han stops himself from objecting and nods when she glances at him particularly.

Lando doesn’t need telling twice. He jogs up to the hatch and punches in the code to activate the ramp. It’s still a foot away from being fully lowered when he jumps up and rushes in, heading straight through to the bunk. Luke is propped up on a roll with an improved complexion, listening to one of Artoo’s chirpy stories.

“Well, we found her!” Lando says as he crosses the hold, arms wide.  
  
“I know,” Luke says. “Him too.”

Still worried, Lando leans into the bunk on one hand and checks Luke’s forehead and neck with the back of the other. Not too cold, not too hot. He balances Luke’s chin on finger and thumb to check his eyes, but he's not really sure what to look for as he rattles off questions. “Can you see? How’s the leg? I love you, you know. Did these bolt heads give you anything to eat?”

Artoo beeps indignantly and rolls off.

“I’m all right,” Luke laughs. “Still a bit fuzzy. Not sure if you’re Lando or Chewbacca, yet.” He squints a little to see Lando. The wrinkle of his nose is incredibly charming.

Lando tilts in and kisses him softly as though he still might break, but Luke dosen't hold back. His hands come up and capture Lando there, keeping and caressing him until he’s finally reassured. It's no more doubt, no more guessing ahead or trying to anticipate the worst. It's the best. Like the way he feels about Luke, this kiss is _sure_.

“I think that clears things up,” Lando sighs with their foreheads still touching. It’s so good to breathe him in again.

Luke covers his cheek with another few kisses. “You're sure?”

Lando laughs. “Listen, I’d climb in with you if your old man weren’t about to walk in.” There’s still such a long day ahead. He stands up straight and just holds Luke’s hand.

“You can’t possibly make a worse first impression than freezing a guy in carbonite,” Luke grins. He settles back into his bunk, still tired from the whole ordeal. “You’re lucky I was already in love with you."

"I'm gonna go check in with the others, real quick," Lando says with a squeeze of Luke's hand. "Then I'll lock this door and hope for the best."

For all Lando's love of plans and contingencies, hoping for the best might have it's place too.

-

Its uneasy at first. The Alliance takes a little time to live up to its name, but they do. They need everyone fighting together and for each other to overcome the Empire, after all. Even the farm girls, gamblers, and fallen knights. Each small victory adds up until the greatest triumph of all. There are losses along the way, but the the light survives the war.

  



End file.
